Grave Humor/Quotes
The "one parting joke" as a gravestone epitaph is an obscure tradition which has been going on, largely under the radar, since at least the eighteenth or nineteenth century. There are many printed books of these, some dating back as far as The Sixties:
- Grave Humor by Alonzo C. Hall. Charlotte, N.C., McNally of Charlotte, 1961.
- Over Their Dead Bodies by Thomas C. Mann and Janet Greene. Brattleboro, Vt., Stephen Greene Press, 1962.
- Last Laughs: Funny Tombstone Quotes and Famous Last Words, Kathleen E. Miller, Sterling Publishing Company 2006.
- I Told You I Was Sick: A Grave Book of Curious Epitaphs by Nigel Rees. 288 pages. Cassell (1 Nov 2005).
These also appear occasionally in fictional works. Fallout 2 appears to have taken and incorporated a list of amusing gravestone inscriptions which has been circulating unattributed online (with minor variation) for decades. Some of these lists were created merely as a jokebook-style compilation, but many of the epitaphs are real.
Some examples:
Here lies the body of our Anna —epitaph of Anna Hopewell, Enosburg Falls, Vermont
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The children of Israel wanted bread —epitaph of Anna Wallace in Ribbesford, England
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Here lies Ann Mann, —epitaph of Ann Mann, London UK, Dec. 8, 1767
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“Captain Thomas Coffin. —epitaph of a Rhode Island fisherman
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Here lies —epitaph of Ezekial Aikle in East Dalhousie Cemetery, Nova Scotia
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To the Memory of Abraham Beaulieu —epitaph in La Pointe, Wisconsin
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Gone, but not forgiven. —epitaph of an adulterous husband in Atlanta
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Here underneath this little stone —epitaph on a lone grave in a New England forest
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Jedediah Goodwin. —epitaph on an auctioneer’s tombstone
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G. Winch, the brewer, lies buried here. —a brewer's epitaph
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John E. Goembel. 1867-1946. —an attorney’s epitaph
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Stranger tread this ground with gravity —a dentist's epitaph
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Molly though pleasant in her day —epitaph of Mary "Molly" Fowler, Milford Cemetery, Connecticut
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Professor S. B. McCracken —epitaph of an Elkhart, Indiana instructor
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Sacred to the memory of —epitaph of a widow in Vermont
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Beneath these stones do lie, —epitaph on a Sargentville, Maine grave
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Here lies Lester Moore —epitaph of an 1880s Naco, Arizona Wells Fargo station agent in Boot Hill Cemetery, Tombstone AZ
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Underneath this pile of stones —epitaph on a tombstone in Skaneateles, New York
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Here lies —epitaph in a Ruidoso, New Mexico, cemetery
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Sir John Strange —epitaph on a lawyer's grave in England
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Here lies the body —epitaph in a Uniontown, Pennsylvania cemetery
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Reader if cash thou art —epitaph of John Penny in Wimborne, England
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She always said her feet were killing her —epitaph on Margaret Daniels' grave at Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia
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On the 22nd of June —epitaph in a cemetery in Hartscombe, England
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In Memory of Beza Wood —an epitaph in Winslow, Maine
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Under the sod and under the trees —epitaph from the 1880's in Nantucket, Massachusetts
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Gone Underground For Good. —on a coal miner's grave
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Ellen Shannon, Who was fatally burned —epitaph in Girard, Pennsylvania
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Born 1903--Died 1942 —epitaph of Harry Edsel Smith of Albany, New York
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Here lays Butch, —epitaph in a Silver City, Nevada cemetery
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I would rather be here than in Texas. —gravestone in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
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She lived with her husband fifty years —gravestone in Burlington, Vermont
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Here lies my wife: —unknown, another version ends "Now she has peace/And so do I"
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Here Lies Mary Smith —unknown
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Rebecca Freeland, 1741. —epitaph in a New Jersey cemetery
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Owen Moore —epitaph in Battersea, London UK
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Here lies the body of Margaret Bent, —epitaph in Winterborn Steepleton Cemetery, Dorsetshire, England
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I was somebody. —an anonymous gravesite in Stowe, Vermont
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He got a fish-bone in his throat —an epitaph in Schenectady, New York
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Remember man, as you walk by, —epitaph from an English cemetery, also spotted in Atlanta. Various sermons mention a reply "To follow you I’ll not consent, Until I know which way you went."
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Hooray my brave boys —epitaph on a grave digger's own tombstone
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Here lies an Atheist —epitaph in a Thurmont, Maryland cemetery
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I told you I was sick! —Spike Milligan's epitaph[1]
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- Back to Grave Humor
- ↑ Irish inscription: "Dúirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite". Many variants spotted on multiple graves in Florida, Georgia and elsewhere.